Monkey's Hometown Movies...

Way back in the great year 1975, I was born, just a little monkey, in the great city of Boston, Massachusetts. There are, it must be said, a lot of great films based in my home town. I thought a good idea for a thread would be to make a list of the great Boston films. I also thought that other people might like to show their hometown pride and make threads of their own on this same idea. In the next few days I want to talk about the following films:

The Town
Ted
Good Will Hunting
The Departed
The Fighter
Mystic River
Gone Baby Gone
Boondock Saints
Fever Pitch

and if there are films that are set in Boston that I should also consider viewing, I'd be much obliged if people would point them out to me. I'm specifically looking for films that sort of capture the feeling of the city and it's people, but anything will be appreciated.

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I think I am going to start with an easy one.

Ted (directed by Seth MacFarlane)

Ted is a "romantic comedy" set in Boston, with a very strong Boston attitude. Mark Wahlberg plays a man who's childhood teddy bear came to life and became his best friend. His girlfriend, played by Mila Kunis, wishes that he would grow up and thinks that Ted, the hard drinking, pot smoking teddy bear, voiced by Seth MacFarlane, is a bad influence.

The movie doesn't really portray Bostonians in a positive light, per say, but people like myself who grew up there will nod knowingly and laugh at seeing ourselves sent up so perfectly. Ted's monologue about women from Boston is so on the nose it had me in hysterics. Sorry, but the Boston accent is not sexy. Not at all. MacFarlane, who is from Rhode Island, I believe, gets so much right in the film, and doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of the Boston character. But it's an affectionate skewering, and it's a film I go back to often. It has a lot of quotable lines and some very funny performances, especially Mark Wahlberg, who should seriously stick to comedy, he excels at it here. I know there will be a sequel because of course there will be, I just hope it lives up to the surprisingly great original.

I was born in Princeton in 1980. We moved to Ewing (right next door to Trenton) in 1986 and back to the Princeton area in 1993. I've also lived in various parts of South Jersey (mainly around Atlantic City).

I can't think of too many good movies taking place in Princeton. I saw IQ ages ago and didn't care one way or the other about it. Transformers 2 is kind of hilarious but also about 2 hours too long. I liked Raiders of the Lost Ark just fine the first 500 times I saw it, but now I'm a little sick of it (through no fault of its own). Never saw A Beautiful Mind and don't feel any strong desire to (or not to). I read the book. I think there was a Princeton scene early in Across the Universe but I'm not positive (I give that movie about a ). I'm currently reading The Accursed, by Joyce Carol Oates and it's great -- better than any of the movies mentioned above. I'd recommend that someone adapt it into a movie, but they'd probably just muck it up. House (the tv show) worked at a Hospital run by Princeton University's fictional medical school (the aerial shots of the "hospital" exterior was the building I used to work in - in real life it's a student center with cafeteria, classrooms and various campus groups. The East Asian Studies dept. and Library are also housed there and in an adjoining building.) I thought it was watchable but two episodes was enough.

Surprisingly, there are a number of good movies set in A.C. (mostly in the Casinos, which I never spent any time in.) Atlantic City might be the most famous and respected, but my personal favorite is Snake Eyes. Also the music video for my favorite Gang Starr song:



As for Trenton, Baby It's You is pretty good.

I wasn't born in Boston but I've been here since 1985, so I consider myself a Bostonian.

Besides the ones you mentioned, The Friends of Eddie Coyle with Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle is an excellent crime film. Also, although it's not that well respected, I really enjoy watching Blown Away with Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones. It's a very Boston movie. Coming up, I'm looking forward to the Whitey Bulger movie with Johnny Depp.

At the last trucking company I worked for, I used to go pick up film from all the movie sets and rush it to the airport. It was pretty cool. Kate Hudson walked right into me while filming Bride Wars-she was so cute and seemed very sweet. I watched them film a short scene of her just crossing the street in a mini-skirt. When they cut, a guy ran out to her with a blanket and just held it around her legs to keep her warm. I thought it was pretty funny.